Buy Kirk's chair on eBay

Yes, that chair

Common Topics

OK, I'll confess it: I'm personally not the world's biggest Star Trek fan; but if there's a single object that symbolizes the whole phenomenon for me in a pleasant way it would have to be Captain Kirk's command chair. A fascinating item: at once an emblem of techno-spiritualism, and yet so....so episcopal. And now it's up for auction: the original, the real McCoy (sorry, couldn't resist), the eternally-famous, quintessential Enterprise bridge prop. Have you got a six-figure disposable income? Then you, my dear reader (and Boomer corporate Chairman?) may end up swiveling in it and barking orders at your underlings.

You can also bid on some of those wooden computer card props to stick in the slots and such. You can wire up the lights. You can Hoover up the dust from the carpeted pedestal confident that dirt from Spock's boot is among the treasures you'll retrieve from the filter bag. Hell, you might even be able to auction that off, judging by some of the crap eBay is shilling. Scraps of carpets, gels, rubber knives, plastic buttons, etc.

Goodies include Latex Spock ears and heaps of fantastic costumes and props including the Evil Kirk tunic and sash from "Mirror Mirror"; but beware of the wording when props and extras' costumes are described. Some are simply assumed to have been filmed in production.

Watch out for the big green lizard head-mask, too. It's a recent cast from the original mold. "The original screen-used mask has since deteriorated to such a degree as to be nearly unrecognizable," we're told. And that's obviously going to happen to this one, so why the estimate is "up to $2,500" is anyone's guess.

There are also mementos from the Patrick-Stewart PC castration edition of Star Trek. I looked for the automobile air-filter thingy the guy from Roots used to wear. I've got a mounted moose head it would enrich delightfully, but alas, it's not listed.

There's also a complete (boots and all) Kirk uniform from the fourth movie and a nearly complete (no boots) Picard uniform from the PC series. And yes, the Ricardo Mantalban shredded luxury-skate-punk tunic, jewellery and boots from the second movie are available. The auctioneers are looking for $20,000-$30,000 out of that lot.

And that magnificent Chairman-of-the-Board command-center? It may fetch up to $150,000, the auctioneers reckon. Indeed, there's already a bid at $80K.